People come to breathwork for so many reasons.

In the beginning for most people it is fairly simple, it is about physical wellbeing or psycho-emotional health. This is a fantastic goal and it is eminently workable with conscious breathwork.

Physical wellbeing is about returning to balance, when we are back in balance the body is in wellbeing. As is the mind. They do this naturally by themselves.

We can use the breath to enable this return to essential balance.

Psycho-emotional ill health does not come from nowhere, it arises mostly from these five sources:

• attachment issues in early childhood

• adverse childhood experiences

• stress and distress as we grew up

• stress and distress in later life

• genetics

Possibly in order of importance here.

How can breathwork help?

Breathing is entrained and conditioned like everything in the list above, except genetics. We learn to breathe from our mother or significant carer first of all, then our family, then our community, school, the media and the world.

Recently, I watched a movie with men running and fighting - what struck me was how the characters in the movie were breathing. They were all breathing through their mouths, huffing and puffing and grunting away, because it made them look like they were doing work. Doing exercise. Being strong, powerful men.

But they were causing themselves physiological and psychological distress from this type of dysfunctional breathing.

Ask yourself, when does a race horse, a powerful athletic creature, breathe through its mouth?

Never.

So we learn from all sorts of influences.

We can begin with breathwork and slowly retrain the patterns of breathing - and then something shifts. We feel more relaxed, more at ease, more centred, more calm, more focused, more creative, more connected, more peaceful... We feel so much!

And we start to smile and laugh more. We start to open our eyes and our hearts a little wider, and the world begins to feel and look like a different, more manageable - and beautiful place.

And that is just the very beginning.

Tune in for Part 2 of Why Conscious Breathwork next week, where I'll explore this in more detail.